Counter-terrorism officers at work gathering evidence outside the New Democracy (ND) headquarters in Athens, following an early morning gun attack.

6.22pm GMT

Closing summary

Time to wrap things up for the day. Here's a brief closing summary:

•Tensions are high in Greece following a gun attack on the offices of the New Democracy party in Athens early this morning. Several bullets were fired at the building (see 9.32am) , after a weekend in which other political offices and the homes of several journalists were hit by incendiary devices (9.15am)

Greece's prime minister has vowed that democracy will not be 'terrorised' (see 6.04pm).

•IMF chief Christine Lagarde has predicted that the eurozone's recovery will begin this year. (See 8.20am)....

•...although the latest industrial output data has shown that euro area is probably still in recession (see 10.42am).

• Greek left-wing opposition leader Alexis Tsipras and German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble have disagreed over the eurozone crisis, at a meeting in Berlin. (see 2.14pm).

•Silvio Berlusconi had a mixed day. His party continues to make headway in the polls (see 12.44pm), but efforts to have a sex trial delayed until after the Italian elections was rejected (see 1.37pm).

•European stock markets were calm, while the euro hit its highest level against the pound since last April. (see 1pm).

• David Cameron is to give his speech on Britain in Europe on Friday, in the Netherlands. (see 4.08pm).

I'll be back in the morning (snow permitting.....). Until then, thank you and goodnight.

6.04pm GMT

Samaras: Democracy will not be terrorised

An employee looks out from inside the headquarters of co-ruling New Democracy party after an attack in Athens this morning. Photograph: YORGOS KARAHALIS/REUTERS

And finally, Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has vowed that democracy will not be threatened by the gun attack on his party's Athens HQ early this morning (see 9.15am onwards for the details).

Spain was dealt a blow by Vodafone today -- the company is planning to cut staff numbers in response to falling demand.

According to unions, Vodafone is considering cutting 25% of its Spanish workforce, or around 1,000 people. It has seen revenues fall in Spain (and other struggling Southern European countries) as austerity measures trigger recession and rising unemployment.

Germany's finance minister has urged Greece's leftist opposition leader to back the austerity plan attached to the country's international bailout loans.

A German government official said Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble held a 30-minute meeting with Alexis Tsipras in Berlin on Monday.

He said Schäuble insisted the package of austerity measures and reforms agreed by Greece and its international creditors had to be implemented if the country wants to remain one of the 17 nations using the common euro currency.

2.57pm GMT

Here's a video clip of David Cameron on morning television today, arguing that Britain is suffering from too much interference from Brussels:

Tsipras and Schäuble disagree in Berlin

Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras and German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble have disagreed over the eurozone crisis at their meeting in Berlin today.

Perhaps predictably, the two men remained poles apart over the crisis -- with Tsipras arguing that Greece must change course, and Schäuble insisting that it must not.

Speaking after the meeting, Tsipras told reporters that he had demanded more action to address Europe's jobless crisis:

I told him that the austerity programmes have failed all over Europe and especially in Greece.

Now we must deal with their impact: poverty, unemployment.

Our vision is to see Greece exiting the crisis with its people standing on their feet.

The German finance ministry is briefing that Schäuble took a hard line with the Syriza leader, telling Tsipras there was no alternative to austerity and economic reforms for Greece.

A ministry source told Reuters:

Minister Schäuble has told Mr Tsipras unequivocally that there is no alternative to the... implementation of the economic adjustment programme. Minister Schäuble urged Mr Tsipras to back the path embarked upon.

Factory output, two-thirds of which is generated by Germany, France and Italy, was down almost 4% on an annual basis in the month, highlighting just how few cars, televisions and other goods like fridges Europeans have been buying at a time of record unemployment. However, production of machinery used to make other goods, an indicator of future business, rose 0.7% in November from October, after two months of losses. If production of those capital goods continues to increase, that could support business surveys and the view of the ECB that the euro zone will recover from recession in 2013 and that the economy hit bottom in the fourth quarter of last year.

The latest in Italy

Silvio Berlusconi, appearing on the 'Telecamere' TV Programme on 11 January 2013. Photograph: Camilla Morandi/Rex Features

Silvio Berlusconi continues to dominate the political scene in Italy, with around six weeks to go until the Italian general election.

The encouraging news for Berslusconi is that his right-wing coalition has gained ground since his People of Freedom party secured an alliance with the Northern League party, and launched a media charm offensive.

The latest polling by the Tecne research institute found that the PdL/Northern League have 24% of the vote, up from 22.4%.

Mario Monti's own centrist coalition has fallen back to 14.5%, from 15.8%.

The centre-left alliance led by Pier Luigi Bersani remains the lead, but has also lost some ground -- at 37.8 from 38.6%.

Berlusconi must also be watching the courts as well as the polls. The latest development there is that Karima El Mahroug, or "Ruby the Heartstealer", has made a dramatic return to Italy to give evidence in the former prime minister's sex abuse trial.

As Samaras wasn't in the office (and wasn't likely to be either, in the middle of the night), it's important not to exaggerate the attack*.

One key question will be whether it represents an escalation in public anger over Greece's austerity programme, or is simply an isolated action by criminal extremists.

* - although as someone else might have been, it's hard to ignore

Updated at 1.08pm GMT

11.17am GMT

In the UK, the question of Britain's possible exit from the European Union continues to rumble on.

David Cameron, who is expected to end the suspense and deliver his Big Speech on the issue within days, defended his push for the repatriation of powers on Radio 4's Today Programme.

The PM insisted that he doesn't want Britain to leave the EU, and rejected criticism that he's playing a risky game....

Those that say ‘this is very dangerous, you’re putting at risk the relationship with Europe, you’re putting at risk our position with regard to business’, I don’t agree with that because the fact is this debate is happening anyway.

So we have a choice as politicians: do you get out there, lead that debate, make the changes that would be right for Britain – and I would argue right for Europe – and then give people a choice about that? Or do you kind of stick your head in the sand and just hope the debate is going to go away?

However, Cameron wasn't quizzed on issues such as Brussels' reluctance to renegotiate existing treaties (which might scupper the PM's plan), or reports that an in-out referendum might not be held before 2018 (which would mean years of uncertainty).

My colleague Andrew Sparrow has all the details of what was, and wasn't, covered on his Politics Live blog.

10.42am GMT

Eurozone industrial output disappoints.

Industrial output in the eurozone has fallen again, in the latest sign that the region's economy ended 2012 in recession.

Euro area industrial output dropped by 0.3% in November, following a 1% fall in October. On a year-on-year basis the sector was 3.7% smaller than in November 2011.

Economists had only expected a drop of 0.1% in November.

Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said the data suggested that the eurozone shrank in the final three months of 2012, for the third quarter in a row:

While Eurozone manufacturing activity likely suffered its low point around October, latest survey evidence indicates that the sector is still in recessionary territory and that conditions continue to be tough going into 2013.

Archer added, though, that firms could be encouraged to invest more by the current optimistic mood.

10.26am GMT

Back to the financial sector... and the Greek stock market has hit its highest level in 17 months.

The main Athens index, the ATG, hit 1000 points this morning for the first time since August 2011. That means its doubled since mid-June, when a Greek exit from the eurozone looked likely.

10.06am GMT

Greece's opposition Syriza party has hit back against the Greek government for claiming that it was linked to the latest wave of violence (see 9.15am).

Syriza spokesman Panos Skourletis said the party clearly condemned the attacks. Skourletis then claimed that the governing New Democracy party was trying to make political capital out of the incidents and creating a "civil war climate.”

Here's some reaction from Greek citizens:

Janine Louloudi (@janinel83)

Main result of these attacks is that attention will shift away from tonight's parliamentary vote & add to chasm btw left & right in #Greece

Several New Democracy and PASOK offices around Athens were also firebombed over the weekend. A total of 17 incendiary attacks, including on a SYRIZA office in Iraklio, Crete, were recorded over the weekend.

9.15am GMT

Greece shaken by weekend attacks and gunfire today

A police expert searches for evidence at the damaged entrance of a building in Athens on Sunday. Photograph: JOHN KOLESIDIS/REUTERS

There is alarm in Greece after bullets were fired at the headquarters of the governing New Democracy party this morning.

The attack, reportedly involving a kalashinikov rifke, came after weekend attacks on the homes of several journalists which has left Athens in a state of high anxiety.

From the Greek capital our correspondent, Helena Smith, reports:

Government officials are expressing consternation at the rash of attacks in recent days following confirmation that bullet casings reportedly fired from a kalashinikov were even found in the office used at New Democracy headquarters by prime minister Antonis Samaras.

Police this morning said they were now tracking down a gunman who is believed to have fired the shots from a motorbike at the party's central building on Sygrou Avenue.

No one was injured in the assault.

"We are leaving no stone unturned, " said one police source. "These appear to be a coordinated range of attacks very possibly by the same group."

The government spokesman, Simos Kedigoglou, whose own brother was targeted when assailants attacked his central Athens home with a fire bomb over the weekend, said the coalition government would not be cowed by the violence.

"We have a worrying acceleration in the effort to sow terror in our society. We are seeing unprecedented things ... We all have to give our all. To show that democracy will not be terrorized," he told a local radio station this morning, before slamming the radical left main opposition Syriza party for condoning "the political violence."

The homes of five prominent Greek journalists, employed with national media, were also targeted Friday by a new group calling itself "lovers of lawlessness." The group blamed the journalists "sympathetic" coverage of the way the government had handled the country's financial crisis.

Attacked - the home of AMNA general director and president Antonis Skyllakos and his wife, journalist Evangelia Baltatzi, in the northern Athens suburb of Penteli, Greece, on Saturday 11 January 2013. Photograph: ALEXANDROS VLACHOS/EPA

A burnt motorcycle outside the home of Antonis Skyllakos and Evangelia Baltatzi. Photograph: ALEXANDROS VLACHOS/EPA

No one has been arrested, said police, who declared a nationwide hunt for the assailants is now underway. Government officials have openly hinted that the attackers derive from "anti-bailout" forces coalesced around the far-left front.

With Greeks ensnared in their hardest winter since the eruption of the debt crisis three years ago, anti-austerity anger is palpable. However, several polls also showed a slight dent in support for Syriza with the left-wingers losing their lead in favor of the governing coalition for the first time since the summer.

Samaras, who has been credited with deftly steering Greece through an autumn of tumultuous negotiations with the country's troika of creditors at the EU, ECB and IMF, also increased his lead over the leftist leader Alexis Tsipras. SKAI TV, which conducted one of the surveys, attributed the rise to the political stability the coalition appeared to have succeeded in attaining with the release of a whopping €34.4bn in emergency bailout funds last month.

In a bid to boost his party's standing within the EU, Tsipras will meet the German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble, in Berlin today for what will be his first talks with a senior official in the Merkel administration.

Updated at 9.23am GMT

8.51am GMT

Rumour watch: there's some chatter in the City this morning that Cyprus is about to be downgraded by a ratings agency.

If so, it will either be Standard & Poor's or Fitch, given Moody's cut its rating last Thursday.

Russian Market (@russian_market)

So early in the morning a rumor on another downgrade of Cyprus - unconfirmed

In the markets...

Christine Lagarde's claim that investor confidence has returned is backed up by new data this morning, showing that the amount of money flowing into global stock markets hit a five-year high last week.

Most European stock markets have opened a little higher this morning too: